A Birmingham shopkeeper will be facing jail time unless he pays £100,000 after 90% of his designer stock was discovered to be fake, including rip-off versions of Adidas, Dolce & Gabbanna, UGG, Louis Vuitton, Apple, Hugo Boss and Beats.
Director Mohammed Akhtar Musejee, also the boss of firm Phonetec UK Limited has been given three months to pay the six-figure sum by the Birmingham Crown Court.
The tribunal was fixed after a customer complained about a pair of Beats headphones to trading standards in 2014. Council officials seized more than 1,800 goods that they believed were fake which amounted to 90% of the shop’s stock. They had an estimated street value of £16,000.
Birmingham City Council customer regulator supervisor, Coun Barbara Dring said: “Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime. Consumers who think they are snapping up a bargain can be put at risk by products, which do not meet safety standards. Furthermore, legitimate retailers are unable to compete with cheaper, poor quality goods being sold by unscrupulous traders, effectively putting local jobs at risk and damaging the city’s economy.”
Phonetec UK Limited, trading as Akee’s, was allowed to continue trading during the investigation and remains open to the public.
